Lessons Learned -- Life in the Scrum

In this blog post, we will explore the parallels between Scrum in the context of rugby as a sport and as an Agile teaming method for delivering products and services. There are some key aspects of the sport in terms of culture and practice that have deeply inspired radical ways of working for collaborative teams.

I am from Louisville, Kentucky – home of college basketball and football. I had zero context or background about Rugby as a sport when my son announced his sophomore year of high school that he was no longer interested in playing <American> football. My first question to him was "what is rugby"? He responded by describing the sport as being “like football” but faster and smarter. Curious, I watched YouTube video of the New Zealand Blacks from a link that he sent me, which scared the life out of me. I was a little shocked to learn that while rugby was as physical as football, the sport required no equipment other than a mouth guard. I wanted to be encouraging to my son, deciding that the best way to support him was to dive in so that I could understanding more about the sport – the player positions, game rules, and attributes. I was committed to understanding foreign terms unique to rugby like "scoring a try", "ruck", "maul", "scrum", "line-out", and "knock".

By the time that my son decided to start playing rugby as a sport, I had several years of exposure to “Scrum” professionally because I completed training and certification as a ScrumMaster in 2009. I can say with confidence that I would not come to fully appreciate how Agile and Rugby scrum overlapped practically and metaphorically until his first season playing the sport. The hours of observation helped me to appreciate why rugby sport culture was inspiring to technology teams who elected to use Scrum as a radical approach planning and delivering technology, products and services. In those moments as a proud Momma cheering her son from the sidelines, I observed the extent to which the sport was more than just a namesake but a powerful model for collaborative teaming.

Lessons Agile learned from Rugby…

1. TEAMING: It is a very common practice for Rugby teams to “lend” players to an opposing team --> much like a technology delivery team where specific team responsibilities other than the product owner and ScrumMaster are not fixed or role-based. #oneteam

2. HOSPITALITY & CELEBRATION: The hosting team is responsible for coordinating a social after the match, providing food and beverage that is shared among the teams to honor and celebrate the winning side --> much like Agile where team celebrations and retrospectives to give pause in recognizing team success and identifying opportunities to grow and continuously improvement. #lessonslearned #kudos

3. OPPORTUNITY SEEKING: In Rugby, any player position can score by kicking for points or running the ball to score a try --> much like cross-functional Agile teammates where “picking” up work items is a common practice to ensure that the team delivers successfully on committed iteration objectives. #flexibility

4. STRATEGIC PLANNING: Team of teams and Agile teams coordinate planning in a timebox making consensus commitments so that they optimize through-put and avoid overcommitting that creates risk for roadblocks --> much like Rugby, the likelihood of scoring the extra two points by kick is optimized because kicking position is determined by where rugby ball was placed for try in goal. #strategic

5. HIGH PERFORMING: Reporting team metrics (defects released, predictability, velocity, burn down, throughput) are indicative of an Agile team’s maturity --> much like an experienced rugby team seamlessly passing the rugby ball to advance their position on the field and score. #maturity

6. DISCIPLINE: Agile teams optimally organize to effectively exploit team strengths while promoting consistent communication by maintaining backlog hygiene, participating in daily stand-ups, iteration planning, demos and retrospectives --> much like a rugby team that physically conditions for speed or brute strength, practices frequently with their team collective. #practice #condition

Rugby has evolved from a sport to more of a lifestyle for our family. My son continues to play for the local Men’s rugby team in Carmel, Indiana as well as coaches high school rugby. #givingback As a perpetual cheerleader for my son, I have the privilege of watching rugby matches often. From the sidelines at the pitch through the lens of my camera memorializing great moments of sports play, there are glimmering reminders of how blessed I am. I have been a leader and teammate on some amazing “dream teams” over the course of my professional career. If you are curious about some of my proudest professional moments…check out “projects” at on my LinkedIn profile to learn more. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbakertaylor/